


Emergency contact

by Waywardgoose



Series: Ironwitch pals [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt Wanda Maximoff, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Wanda Maximoff Needs a Hug, hospital related trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 18:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18696991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waywardgoose/pseuds/Waywardgoose
Summary: Tony knew there was always a possibility that he’d be called over some injury Wanda sustained in the field. It was a responsibility he had quite literally signed up for. (Even if it was Pepper's idea)He just never thought the day would actually come.





	Emergency contact

Tony had long since learnt Wanda was was a creature made from extremes. She'd gone from happy and loved to street orphan with nothing, was left powerless without a voice until one day she was turned into a being that could raise cities to the ground with the flick of her wrist. Hell even when he talked with her, she’d go from burning anger to beaming smiles and sunshine in the blink of an eye.  

Nothing was ever _small_ with her so of course when she finally got hurt it was serious.  

 

(If she wasn’t going to half ass living she certainly wasn’t going to half ass dying.)

  


He got the phone call at a little after 2am. He’d finally begun to feel the lull of sleep but the second the receptionist reported what happened any pull of exhaustion left his body.

The woman on the phone- Mary she’d called herself- had very few details to offer ask most of it was classified. Somehow it was worse than being told nothing at all, being forced to sieve through the half truths to piece together what happened.  

From what he could work out, the mission went well until it didn't. The Avengers had been in Zagreb recovering a possibly devastating toxin- a fairly standard objective for them since HYDRA resurfaced one of its many heads.

They’d been preparing to board the Quinjet when a HYDRA drone appeared behind them and opened fire. Wanda had used her scarlet to push Sam and Steve to the ground, shielding the Glass vial with her body.

Apparently, it was a Maximoff trait to jump in front of bullets meant for other people, as she took a hit below her left rib cage. The glass she was cradling chest shattered against her and she received the entire damn dose of whatever Poison was in the vial as it soaked through her skin.

 

“When, uh, when can I see her?” He asked, voice rough from weariness.  
There was a horrible, painful silence that seemed to stretch out for eternity. The woman was clearly trying to be tactful, trying not to panic him, as if there was a way around it.

“How soon can you get here?” The kind of urgent that could mean the difference between getting to say goodbye or not.

“I’ll be there in ten” was all he said before hanging up.   

 

He left Pepper sleeping and ordered FRIDAY to update her when she woke. Time seemed to blur together, liminal and broken as he sped through the skies of new york. It was probably a new record, he’d forced the suit to work harder than It'd ever done before. He just hoped it wouldn’t be too late-  

He ordered himself to stop thinking about _that_ immediately. Wanda was going to be fine, she’d be out in a couple of days and get back to laying about on his sofa in ugly hello kitty PJs and eating his apartment out of snacks. She’ll get annoyed at him working to hard and force him to watch some dumb teen drama until he’ll get stressed about her terrible grades and force her to study with him. It’s how it always was- this time would be no different. It was going to be _fine_.  

 

_She’s going to be fine she’ll get through this it’s probably nothing-_

 

“Where’s Maximoff? Wanda Rozalia Maximoff?” He asked a mousy looking woman at the front desk. She looked up from her computer and blinked a couple of times, dark smudges under her eyes.

“Oh, Mr Stark of course, follow me” Tony trailed after her down the long echoing hallways devoid of life (and in most cases, _lights_ ). It wasn’t unexpected given the late hour but paired with how large and silent the building was the whole experience began to feel like a bad stephen king novel.

Tony tried to ignore it. Hearing the vague outline of what went down was enough nightmare fuel for one day thank you.

The woman- _Olivia_ , according to her nametag- took him a near empty ward and introduced him to a bald man in green scrubs and a white SHIELD issued lab coat. Tony zoned out on the attempted small talk.

“ _Wanda_. Where is she?” He interupted. 

 

“Yes...I’m sure you must be worried, you’ll be glad to know we successfully removed the bullet and surrounding glass fragments in surgery however we’ve had put her in an induced coma” He must have pulled a face because the mousey receptionist squeezed his arm gently, as if to offer support or something. As if anything could make that sentence less shitty. “It’s just till we get the toxicology back”

 

The Doctor- Was it Martin? _Marvin_? - Lead him into the sterile room and his eyes instantly locked onto the sleeping girl. His mind whirred into overdrive.

 

_Oh sweetheart no-_

 

Wanda Maximoff had always been scrawny, but seeing her there- frail and limp in a bland hospital bed took the air from his lungs. Tony barely recognised her. He stared at her unable to connect the young woman in front of him to the one he’d played _Dance dance revolution_ with just a few nights ago so he tried to detach- to analyse her like an engineering problem. The human body was a machine afterall, he just had to figure out which part of her wasn’t working and then maybe there’d be something he could do to fix her.

 

It wasn’t that simple though. His eyes bore into the central line in her neck, the canulas at her wrists and all the tubes hooked up to machines but his brain couldn’t process it. Wanda wasn’t just some malfunctioning engine or indecipherable code- she was the bratty, broken teen he’d come to care about and she looked _awful_.

 

(And maybe the worst part of all was how peaceful she looked- as if dying was the only thing that could ever chase her nightmares away. Tony didn’t let himself dwell on that for too long.)

 

"We're giving her a treatment of antibiotics to try kick out the fever but…"

"But what?" Tony gritted out.

"Her heart is weak from her history of malnourishment. It's up to Wanda now"

 

He felt winded. It was up to _Wanda-_ Wanda who was tenacious and a survivor yes, but who was also haunted by trauma too large for a girl so young. He wasn’t under any illusion that she wanted to live. Given the chance to tap out she’d take it.

 

(And whilst a very dark part of him wouldn’t blame her if she did give up, Tony was fully prepared to spend the next decade trying to drag her back to life himself)

 

He rubbed a hand over his face, a sudden wave of exhaustion hitting him. “Sorry, not to be rude but where is Doctor Cho?”  
“She’s currently doing work in Argentina-”

“Maximoff is an Avenger, she needs the best doctors”

“And she has the best doctors available, Tones” Tony turned to where Steve was leaning against the wall. He didn’t notice him before. Did he sneak up? Was he always there? _What happened to being vigilant_ \- “She survived surgery, everything out should be smooth sailing”

“Right. Smooth Sailing” Tony echoed, his voice hollow and numb.  

“Sorry we ruined your evening, tried saying she didn’t need anyone else but they’ve got some forms for her next of Kin to sign and wouldn’t let us fill them out” Steve sounded truly apologetic, and Tony wondered if they’d have bother telling him if he wasn’t the emergency contact.

"Not like I was sleeping- Has anyone told her hawkdaddy yet?" It wasn't a secret who her real father figure was, even if Rhodey teased him mercilessly for the time he gave Wanda a bedtime.  (Totally her fault for breaking curfew to go on a tinder date. It went spectacularly wrong and he'd been forced to drive an hour across the city to pick her up. The real miracle was Wanda stuck to it, however much she whined about it)

Steve shook his head. "Clint said not to call unless it's an emergency"

Tony watched the gentle rise and fall of her chest in time to the beeping machines. "Are we not looking at the same person? This looks kind of urgent"

"Come on, Tony It’s _Wanda_. Kid survived human experimentation and you think a bullet will keep her down? She’ll be back on her feet in no time" A bullet wound _and_ almost 15ml of a still unidentified poison. Small details.

Tony nodded. “Yeah, okay, Fri? Send a message to Legolas for me will you?”

 

One of the friendlier nurses- a soft middle-aged woman called Sophie brought him a chair and a polystyrene cup of hospital coffee. It was quite possibly the worst coffee ever created and Tony Idly wondered if it was secretly the toxin that was keeping the witch down.

Napping was just as useless as the coffee was, Steve left just before four to get some _proper rest_ and everytime Tony closed his eyes his whole world was consumed by the rhythmic chirps of the machines filtering her blood and filling her with medicine.

Medicine.

 

Tony jolted and walked over to her side, ran a finger along the needle tracks on her right arm. She’d once admitted it was a mix of Strucker’s experiments and a on and off fling of childhood substance abuse. Did they know her vaccines _still_ weren't up to date from Sokovia? Since she moved into the compound four months back they’d begun giving her inoculation but it had been a slow process as they juggled with the doses and tried to make up for the thrumming scarlet beneath her skin. _Was that why her heart was weak?_ Lack of immunisation as a kid? The _‘speedball’_ she got into taking when she was fourteen and homeless and angry? They’d done scans and found scarring on her lungs from various infections caught off the streets- would that be affected too? What about the septicaemia she contracted when waiting for his bomb to go off-

The bomb was the root of the problem. It always was with her. Without his weapon she’d be in Sokovia, in _school_ , working towards being a Vet like she’d always wanted to be. Instead the witch had spent her formative years one step ahead of death- from police guns or rebel bombs or freezing on the streets it didn’t matter. What mattered is It was all his fault she was there. His fault her damn organs weren’t strong enough.

The thought made his own heart squeeze. Tony’s palms felt clammy and his chest tightened again.

“Boss?” FRIDAY chimed carefully. “You’re heart rate is elevated, should I call someone?”

“No. _No_ . it’s fine” He pushed his anxiety away and sat down again. If he couldn’t sleep he could watch her and make sure she’s looked after _properly_. He’d gotten to know her well enough, snippets of her history slowly revealed over late night ice cream and early morning coffee, but Clint had been the one to sit her through the initial doctors meetings and tests and he couldn’t help but fixate on the idea he was missing some vital information.

 

Being left with his spiralling mind was hard anyday, but the endless silence whilst he waited for something- _anything_ to happen must be what purgatory felt like.

Marlowe poked his head around the door, the movement setting Tony back on edge. “Mr Stark? could I have a moment?” Tony nodded, his gaze flicked back to Wanda for a moment before he followed the Doctor down the corridor to a small seating area beside the window.

“I’m sorry for the delay, given Miss Maximoff’s ...questionable status as a human we’ve been unsure of how to proceed but I have some relevant papers for you here. So far we’ve been able to bring her back from cardiac arrest twice now but we’re not sure how long this will last or if her mutation will continue to fight of the toxin or not”  Marlowe handed over a form with the letters DNR printed across the top and Tony felt his own heart stop for a moment.

“I can imagine this must be quite the nuisance for you, but we don’t really have anyone else to ask” The doctor carried on talking as if there was any chance Tony could actually hear him over the ringing in his ears. He just stared at the paper unable to comprehend anything being said.

 

_DNR._

_Do not resuscitate._

 

“Mr Stark?” Marlowe probed, dragging him back to the moment.

“Yeah uh...Yeah. I'm not signing this. She's going to wake up"

The doctor frowned. “Mr Stark, you have to understand she’s not improving-”

“She’s an Avenger. She’s going to wake up” He repeated, the blood freezing in his chest. _Please do not make me responsible for the death of every Maximoff-_

 

Tony got up silently and walked back to her room letting the door bang shut behind him as the whole world seemed to fragment around him. She didn’t even flinch, damn brat. The room fell back into silence broken only by the hissing of her Oxygen and the beeping of her heart monitor and the clock-

 _Well shit._ The clock claimed it was almost 5am. It didn’t feel like it, but time didn’t feel like anything anymore. He needed Clint to hurry up and take over, make the decision for him and reclaim responsibility of the young witch.

 

Tony brushed her hair off her face. Let the world fade to nothing but the steady rise and fall of her chest and the smell of antiseptic.

 

Wanda was sullen and moody, but she was also kind and gentle and everything _good_ in a world that had tried so very hard to destroy her. She’d done horrible, terrible things, but she was so young and misguided- she had so long to fix it.   

If there was any fairness she’d get to live.

 

(If Tony had learnt anything, it was that the world just wasn’t fair).  

“Hey, uh. I’m not sure if you can hear us and It’s probably driving you crazy if you can so I’ll make this quick. _Don’t_ die. I need you” Tony tapped her arm gently. “I’m not sure how _you_ of all people became important to me, but, and don’t go repeating this, you are. You are so important. Annoying too, but...”

“Listen I know you’re all full of that teen angst and self hate but if you give up now you’re being weak, Wanda Maximoff, and i never thought you’d be weak. So you gotta live, and make up for what you did a hundred times over” make up for scaring him so badly.

She didn’t answer. The various machine’s surrounding her beeped in the space her snarky words should be. “Alright. Good talk”

  
Clint arrived a little after ten in the morning. Tony tried not to blame him, he must have been busy with baby Nathaniel and on top of that he had to fly out but part of him raged at how slow he was. What she’d gotten worse in the time it took him to get off his ass? What if Wanda had _died_?

Not that there’d been any significant changes with her. She’d just carried on sleeping like a fairytale princess. The other avengers visited, dipping in and out for short bursts of five to ten minutes at a time, no doubt Steve was already planning his next Winter soldier goose chase with Nat and Sam. No one else _stayed_. He wondered if it they’d stick around if he was the one in dying of poison again. Probably not. (Though it would be nice to think Nat would visit for old times sake)

 

“Hey, I got told what happened” Clint sat down next to him. “You been here all this time?”

“Yeah” Tony breathed. Even after all the time drained away in her hospital room, the stench of antiseptic still burnt his throat.

“Has she...did she wake at all?”  
  
“Not yet. Still sleeping it out”

“Bloody teenager” Clint snorted before taking Wanda’s hand in his own. The archer’s hands dwarfed hers. Tony hated the sight of it.

 

Why did she have to be so _breakable_?  

 

The silence between them was going to spark. He had no reason to be angry at the archer, he’d done nothing wrong besides take a while to reach her side but her was there now wasn’t he? It was misplaced anger from being unable to get the bastards who did this to Wanda.

Knowing that didn’t change anything though. Clint was still moments away from being snapped at if he didn’t stop fidgeting-

 

The door swung open and Wanda’s nurse, Sophie walked in. “Stark? We’re going to try wake her” She held a form out for him, offered a warm smile.

Tony looked at Clint, took in way his head cocked to the side in interest, his body poised as though he were fully prepared to leap of the chair and take control of it. This is what he wanted wasn’t it? Clint taking over from him?

Tony waved her hand away. “Barton’s got it covered. I’m out”

He left without looking back.

If he never saw Wanda like that again, it would be too soon.

 

(he did his best to ignore the dark part of him that wondered if he’d ever see her again)

 

The mechanic slept the afternoon away, spent the early evening lounging around making new designs for Wanda’s armour on his StarkPad. If she was determined to throw herself in front of moving objects he’d at least stop this happening again.

“You’re worrying” Pepper said finally. She’d long since given up trying to get him to focus on something else, instead putting on an episode of _Say yes to the dress_. It was her and Wanda’s show, they’d spent hours watching it over and over without any end in sight. Watching It was Pepper's own way of letting herself linger on the elephant in the room, so he didn't complain like he usually would. 

“I’m not worried” He gritted his teeth.

“Tony, you’ve been checking your phone all night. Just go see her”  
“Clint’s there and I’m not in the mood to play musical chairs”

Pepper frowned. “No he’s not. When I asked Natasha for an update earlier she said he had to go home, that he was looking at Wanda but seeing Pietro again”

The world froze. What the hell was Barton doing leaving her there? If it was purgatory for them, it was _hell_ for her. Hospitals were terrible for everyone. For Wanda they were loss and pain, an enemy territory she couldn’t escape. Barton knew it. They _all_ knew it- her trauma was visible a mile away on a good day.

“ _what did you say_ ?”  
“Don’t be too hard on him he-”

Tony lowered the tablet. “No, I mean if he’s gone who’s with her now?”

“I presume Steve?”

“Cap’s taken Nat and Sam on another Winter Soldier goose chase, he called me earlier to ask for a Stark foundation donation to Dubrovnik after they damaged a belltower”

 

From the look on her face, Tony could tell Pepper had reached the same conclusion. She was _alone_ . Wanda hated doctors- getting her to regular check-ups was an ongoing battle that left him resorting to bribery and promises of ice-cream more often than not. She’d been cut open and poked around with needles and knives and he’d left her alone in a place that specialises in that. Tony used to laugh at stories of parents who’d inadvertently abandoned their children in public places but It didn’t feel like a joke anymore. _He’d_ left his kid in walmart.

(And yeah, maybe his kid was an eighteen year old east european who’d tried to kill him and his walmart was a top medical facility but it didn’t stop it feeling shitty)

 

He ran a hand through his hair, tried to justify why nobody was communicating over this. _It wouldn’t have been an issue if they just called him-_

“What time does visiting end?” Tony asked.  

“I’ll call ahead, tell them you’re on your way”

He leaned over to kiss her before grabbing his jacket from under her. “What would I do without you?”  
  
“Just _go._ Call me when you get there” Pepper ordered him. "And take her phone. Make her call me as soon as she wakes up"

 

He’d barely made it to the ward when he was hunted down by Doctor Marlowe. The bubble of anger he’d been nursing over the whole situation was threatening to rear its head and lash out on the older man.  

“Stark? Thank god we were about to call you, we have a problem” he gestured for him to follow. “We just needed to do a quick lumbar puncture but the shock of the needle entry made her lucid. Unfortunately, she’s not compliant and we can’t proceed until she is. We need your permission to put a restraint collar-”  

“Wait slow down, what do you mean not compliant?”

“She’s acting out with her...magic”

“Uh, did none of you read her file? She’s a former human pincushion with PTSD, you can’t just go in with needles” They’d never have this problem with Doctor Cho damnit. Maybe he was playing favourites, but Helen was always discreet and sensitive to them and their issues. She was the best, too. If Doctor Cho was the one in charge, she’d have kept in mind Wanda's trauma, she'd have bent over backwards to make accomodations so nobody would be in danger. 

A nurse he hadn't seen before was pressed against the bland white walls, uncontrolled terror on her face. Tony rolled his eyes but he couldn't exactly blame them. Wanda's scarlet lashed and writhed with her body like a solar flare, coiling around her like it wanted to cocoon her.

“If you could just sign”

“Can I try calm her?” When the Doctor didn't reply, he went in anyway, hands outstretched like he'd done a hundred times before when waking her from nightmares.  "Hey Hot topic I need you to work with me okay? You gotta try hold it in” and as if to emphasise his point, the damn energy whipped out like a viper again before winding back in. “Great, glad you understand”

 _“nema liječnika_ ”

“So that didn’t sound a yes but can we try anyway?” Tony brushed his fingers against her forehead, pushing the hair off her face. Besides the ominous red glow of her eyes Wanda looked miles away. “She’s burning”

“Yes” Marlowe held out his hand for a syringe. A new nurse he hadn’t spoken with yet handed picked one from the metal tray. “It’s why we’re doing this. Can you distract her?”

“Come on, sweetheart grab my hands” her grip was loose but miraculously present. “Good girl”

“She might feel a fizzy, burning sensation in her legs, it’s completely normal if she does, just talk her through it”

  
“Uh. Right. So Wanda, are you bored yet? I’ve brought your phone with me so you can always read that Buffy fanfic you won’t shut up about. You know you’d probably do a lot better at staying in touch if you didn’t keep leaving it on my couch right? Unless this is a really _lame_ attempt at getting me to buy you a new phone. I mean Pepper thought you did it so you’d have a reason to come home, but since we still have two more high school musicals to get through you’re good on that. Are you free friday? Because I’d really like to move onto the camp rock movies and you’re sort of letting the team down with all your training and saving the planet and-” Wanda’s visceral howl of cut his train of thoughts in half as her scarlet lashed around in defense.

He knotted their fingers together, Wanda’s knuckles turning white as she squeezed. “Keep her steady” Marlowe directed. Tony couldn’t bring himself to look up. Maybe he hadn’t been a Hydra lab rat like Wanda had but only a sadist would enjoy watching their friend get stabbed in the back with a needle.

(Even if said friend was apparently in the mood for shortening his lifespan by ten years. Tony wondered how Pepper would take him cancelling the surprise birthday party they were planning for Wanda in retaliation.)

 

“ _Gdje je moj brat? gdje je Pietro?_ ” Wanda sobbed. He didn’t have to be a genius to figure out she wanted her brother. It just made Tony hate himself a little bit more than usual. 

“I’m know kid”

“ _to boli, Želim svoju obitelj_ ” Wanda’s tears dropped onto his hands because dammit he couldn’t just watch her crack in front of a stranger, she’d never forgive herself if she found out.

“Ok, ok I don’t know what we’re going for here but I’m pretty sure I’m now fluent in sokovian swear words and I didn’t hear any of those”

“ _Pomozite , Piet _”

“Hey- no come on, I know you miss him but stay with us a bit longer alright? We want you here. Pepper adores you, she has a photo of you on her desk and everything. Well it’s not _just_ a photo of you that would be a little creepy. It’s the selfie from thanksgiving. You’ve got family here who need you’’ He expected it to feel wrong somehow, as if he was treading on Barton’s territory somehow.

Barton was the father figure she’d been robbed of, at least he would be if he stuck around for more than a few hours at a time. Tony got a front row seat to the witch’s abandonment issues every damn time Clint visited her in the new Avengers compound. She had a pattern all figured out- spend a week going on and on about how great it was going to be to see Barton then the week after drowning in misery because _why doesn’t he want me what did I do wrong_.

 

The first time it happened, FRIDAY had woke him up with an alert that a very drunk Wanda was trying to break into the penthouse. Tony tried yelling at her, threatened to ground her and call the cops and sell her to a circus. He gave up as soon as soon as the first tear fell and she held onto him like he was her only anchor left in the world. 

(The next morning Pepper had given her a set of keys. _‘Just in case it gets bad again_ ’. Wanda promised it wouldn’t, that it was just a relapse. Tony stopped teasing her about _‘daddy issues’_ altogether when they found her asleep on his couch the following month, keys in hand and fresh tear tracks on her cheeks)

 

“ _Tata_ ” she moaned.

“Yeah I agree” Her grip was hellbent on breaking his fingers it seemed. Tony wasn’t going to complain. It meant she was alive. (Though his therapist might want to review that way of thinking if he brought it up. Even he could tell it wasn’t especially healthy.) 

“And we’re done. Thank you Mr Stark” Marlowe removed the blue latex gloves, tossed them into the medical waste basket on the trolley.

“Now what?” Tony asked, his voice catching.  
  
“Now I send this off for testing and you wait for a miracle”

 

The miracle in question came on the Monday morning. Tony decided then and there to destroy anyone who made _‘I hate monday_ ’ jokes ever again. Monday was the _best_ day.

It was a sudden turn around apparently- one moment she was fast asleep and the next she was sat up stretching a sleepy, dazed expression on her face. They hadn’t even finished making the antidote. Marlowe was suitably irked by her disregard for their hard work and put her recovery down to the constant stream of antibiotics. Tony was pretty certain it was really down to Wanda fighting it, her scarlet burning it away.

It made him a little proud, even if he did want to punch her in her stupid face the moment he walked in and saw her.

“Good morning!” she said all bright and sunshiny. If it weren’t for the strained voice and the general aura of fatigue around her he’d believe she’d just woken from a mid-morning nap. A crackle of annoyance and exasperation rushed through him along with _relief_.

“Are you okay?” He asked. He sat on the edge of her bed, took her face in both his hands and squished her cheeks together, tilted her head from side to side. She looked annoyed, she looked _alive_. He let her go suddenly, her head wobbled like a bobble head for a moment as she blinked. He really hoped she wasn't going to throw up on him.  
  
Wanda nodded. “I think so. What happened? Did I get the toxin?” 

“Oh, you got it alright. Took a while for it to drain out your system but at least we only had to resuscitate you _twice_ ” She flinched at the spite in his voice. _Good_. Let her feel bad. 

“Steve said I shouldn’t let him get to it, If anything I did my job too well”  
  
“Wanda you’ve been out for _four_ days” 

“Just that?” her lips twitched. If she so much as _started_ to grin he was going to punch her stupid face. Wanda picked up on the mood, and frowned. “I feel fine. Maybe great?”

“Oh Good! That's _great_. So want to tell me what the hell were you thinking you reckless, moronic, hotheaded _dumbass_?”  

Wanda looked appropriately guilty and Tony's heart squeezed a little in sympathy. _Maybe he was being hard on her-_ She moved her hand, the tug of the cannula alerting her to it’s presence. Wanda frowned and started to peel at the medical tape from the back of her hand before Tony lightly slapped her wrist. “Stop that, leave it in” 

The witch scowled, familiar teenage angst clouding her face. She really didn't want the tube in, and he understood even if he couldn't let her remove them, so he held her hand in sympathy. "You had us worried for a second there. Well you had Pepper worried, I actually got to eat my strawberry yoghurt for a change"

"Yeah well _She_ didn't have to worry, I'm alive aren’t I?" Tony chose to ignore the bitterness in her voice. 

"You're grounded that's what you are" She pulled a face. 

"Tony, we’ve been over this you really can't ground me"

"I really can and I really have, sweetheart. I called Capsicle already. You're taking three months sick leave and coming _home_ " He didn't mean to call it home. Luckily Wanda didn't seem phased by it. 

“ _Three months_?” Wanda whined.  

“Yes three months” He pitched his voice to an exaggerated expression of her own “and If you ever do this again it’ll be ten years you hear me?”

Wanda blinked " _Da... Oprosti otac_ " He’d have to get Friday to translate it later, but Tony knew whatever she’d said was appropriately sappy and embarrassing enough to tease her about for the next century. Not that he would actually use it, Wanda spilled her heart in Sokovian whenever english wasn’t enough. Whatever was said, it wasn’t to be taken lightly.  

“I can’t believe i’m saying this but get some rest. I have to deal with _more_ of your paperwork. You know, signing away my company was less effort than this, maybe i’ll just leave you here” She scowled at him before she looked away shyly.  
  
“Can you stay a bit longer? Just till I fall asleep” Of course she didn't want to be alone in the hospital. _Shit_. He’d have given anything to ease the rising panic in her eyes. Tony squeezed her hand, relished in how warm it was again.

  
“I’m not going anywhere” He promised.

**Author's Note:**

> It's okay during the 3 months Wanda was grounded they got to watch hsm AND camp rock. (Rhodey hates visiting when Wanda's around because she breaks into song everytime she zones out and it's hell)
> 
> (He also secretly loves it because her chaotic bi disaster energy forces Tony to take a break from work and focus on other things like Dance dance revolution) 
> 
> In other news, who else saw Endgame and now wants to die


End file.
